Many occasions arise that require the use of latching mechanisms to control access to different types of cabinets, entryway doors, carts, furniture, tool boxes, and other types of boxes, hereafter collectively referred to as enclosures, regardless generally of their compositions, materials, or configurations. Such enclosures may be provided with doors and/or may also include drawers.
Electronic locks with remote lock capabilities have been used to provide secure storage and access control to enclosures. Such electronic locks typically include a solenoid or other actuating device that receives a control signal. Such control signal can be configured to trigger the solenoid or other actuating device to mechanically operate the lock such that the lock is in either a locked state or an unlocked state. The control signal can be sent remotely to the electronic lock through an RF or other transmitted signal or through hardwires connecting the electronic lock to the remote device.
Electronic locks typically require a power supply, such as a battery power supply, to power the actuation of the solenoid or other actuating device and the other various electronic components of the electronic lock, such as the receiver for an RF or otherwise transmitted control signal. Often times such power supplies, such as in the case of battery power supplies, can only provide power to the electronic lock for a limited period of time before failure. Once the power supply fails, the power supply will no longer be able to provide power to the electronic lock, and various components of the electronic lock may cease to operate.
To address the limited power resources of many power supplies, electronic locks often times operate in either of an intentional fail safe or fail secure mode. Electronic locks operating in fail safe mode typically require the solenoid or other actuating device to be energized to maintain the electronic lock in a locked state. When the power supply fails, the solenoid or other actuating device will no longer be energized, resulting in the lock being in the unlocked state during a power supply failure. Thus, access can be provided to the enclosure regardless of the event of a power supply failure.
Electronic locks operating in a fail secure mode typically require the solenoid or other actuating device to be energized to maintain the electronic lock in an unlocked state. When the power supply fails, the solenoid or other actuating device will no longer be energized, resulting in the lock being in a locked state during a power supply failure. In this manner, the electronic lock can provide secure storage to the enclosure regardless of the event of a power supply failure.
Electronic locks having the capability to operate in either a fail safe or fail secure mode usually require a constant supply of power to maintain the lock in either a locked or unlocked state. Moreover, certain electronic locks may require a significant amount of energy to operate the solenoid or other actuating device, resulting in a significant drain on available and often limited power resources. Other electronic locks can be bulky and not desirable for providing secure storage to enclosures such as furniture drawers.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0199026 discloses an interchangeable lock operable in fail safe or fail secure modes.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,472,934 discloses a solenoid operated latching strike that is pivotable between open and closed positions for releasing and retaining, respectively, a latch bolt. A bi-stable detent is displaceable between a stable locking position (at which the detent engages the latching strike to lock the latching strike in the closed position) and a stable unlocking position (at which the detent is disengaged from the latching strike thereby enabling the latching strike to be deflected to the open position by the latch bolt).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,730,867; 5,927,772; and 3,804,441 also variously relate to examples of known latching mechanisms.
The forgoing patent related publications are hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
While various implementations of latching mechanisms have been developed, no design has emerged that generally encompasses all of the desired characteristics as hereafter presented in accordance with the subject technology.